With Love
by UnderstandingTheCycle3
Summary: Nicole Greensby only wanted to have an amazing summer, but a job at  the Ministry flushed that idea down the toilet. When Malfoy got thrown in,  Nicole's summer really took a turn for the worst...or did it? Full Summary  inside.


**Hi everyone, Happy New Year! This is my second Harry Potter story and I hope this one doesn't disappoint. I'm still continuing with other story but this idea refused to leave me alone until I wrote it down so...here it is. Please review. I'd like to know what you think about the story and if you like the initial idea. For right now it's a story with Draco but I might change it if the plot changes. I'm not sure yet.**

**Again please review. I sort of feed off of them...does that sounds strange? I think it does. Oh well. It's a fact. I love you all.**

**Summary: Nicole Greensby was going to have a wonderful summer with friends, that is until she dim wittingly signs herself up for a summer job at the Ministry of Magic. The work calls for her to change her job weekly to see which spot she'd be fitted for best in the future. Not exactly horrible, right? Wrong. Draco Malfoy, too, is signed up for the job and isn't exactly the best person to work with. At all.**

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns all except my OCs and plot.**

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><p>It wouldn't stop staring at me with its blank yellow eyes. Its slimy green skin should've been enough to make me recoil in disgust, but it wasn't. Besides, Phebe would never let me live it down. "Catch the frog!" Phebe squealed, clapping her hands excitedly. I wadded through the filthy water towards the large frog like creature that sat idly on an old cracked rock. "It's right there!" Despite my plea for her to hush, she kept egging me on towards the animal in her tiny voice. I couldn't hide my smile. She was happy and enjoying herself; not locked up in her room under surveillance like she was over the school year (Then again, she was five years old. She could've exaggerated in her sloppily written letters).<p>

"I'm going! I'm going!" I whispered. Ever so slowly I reached my hand out and it barely grazed it's lumpy back. It gave a single hop then turned back to look at me as if it were teasing me. I'd done something similar to this on the last day of school with a few friends of mine. The only difference was these frogs were trickier; these were Greensby frogs.

"Hurry! It's hopping away!" It turned and took the deep plunge into the murky water of the lake, never to be seen again (that day). Phebe's laughter made trying to be angry extremely difficult. It rang louder as I trudged towards her, pants' legs sopping wet. Once I left the water, the sunlight began to dry the fabric almost immediately.

"Dammit! Stupid frog" Phebe's eyes widened and her chubby hand flew to her mouth. I didn't realize what I'd done until she spoke again.

"Aww! Nicole you said a bad word. I'm telling mommy!" The use of curse words became natural over the school year so it took me a second to realize where the fault was. Phebe took off towards the house as fast as lightening, little legs pumping as fast as they could.

"No you're not, munchkin" I followed after her (after shaking the stray water from my legs). Tall, tan grass gently scrapped my legs as I ran the stretch to her. Finally, I caught up to her and grabbed her tiny waist. It was extremely light, which worried me until I remembered I'd been on the quidditch team's work out regime for an extremely long time. Everything seemed tons lighter. I still knew she was light for her age.

"Put me down! That tickles" I playfully shook her from side to side, careful not to break anything. Her laughter and struggle to free herself sent her flying from arms and to the solid ground. A small shriek sent me into panic mode and fleeing to her side. The long grass (Mother really needed to work on the grounds) partially hid her injury from my eyes. After searching for a second, I found the culprit: a rock. "Ouch" She whined while hugging her knee tightly. After coaxing her to let it go, I took a look at the gash.

"Are you okay? Let me see it. Stop squirming, Phebe. It's bleeding; we have to clean that up" I told her slowly. Her hands flew to her face to block out the sight of the small amount of blood. I tried to brush it away but she yanked her knee away.

"It's only a scratch." Phebe said with a pout. She started picking at it but stopped when I flicked her hand away with a serious look. That was enough to stop her from bothering it.

I looked back to the house at the hill then down to her face. "Scratches can turn into something bad. Plus there's a bit of dirt in there. We have to give you...surgery" Her eyes widened but grew smaller when she saw me crack into a grin.

"No!" She giggled. "I don't want surgery! I'm all better, look!" Phebe stood up and walked around in two small circles, flattening grass in the process. I reached out to her but she pulled away.

"I don't think so. That looks serious. We might have to cut it off" I exaggerated. Again she started to laugh, this time louder, until the entire field was full of it. It was wonderful to hear her laugh. How I missed that laugh.

"I need my leg!"

"You can get a peg leg like Uncle Alistair. Don't make that face. He's very nice" I loved my uncle Alistair and his rousing stories of being an Auror (although it was a bit hard to understand him with his thick accent that seemed to change constantly). His peg leg, I could do without.

"Not when he's changing his leg!" I could remember seeing him change his knee at the dinner table one Christmas. It was a horrible sight; his drunken laughter didn't help anything at all.

I stood up and began a slow walk to her. With each step I took, Phebe giggled and took a step back. "How about this: We clean up your knee then come back outside and search for the frog? How does that sound?" She thought for a second then went and grabbed my hand. We began our walk to the house; Phebe had a small limp to her step.

"Okay. Can we eat first?" She was bargaining. Despite her young age (A hearty four years old) she knew how to work people. Spending time with our mother was bound to do that to her.

"Sure. I'll get Kemp to make you some soup. It'll be tomato. Your favorite"

Phebe's face contorted into a sick look and she mimicked the sound of barfing. "Blech. I'm sick of soup" Her tiny tongue stuck out in disgust at the thought.

"It's all you can eat till your tooth falls out"

"That's not true!"

"It's not?"

"Nope. I can eat lots of stuff" Her limp was gone and she was skipping, making me pick up the speed. The closer we got the house, the more the sun seemed to go down. Our mother was probably worrying. Technically we were supposed to stay in the house, but I couldn't say no to Phebe when she asked to go to the lake. It was the first official week of summer and from what my father told me, the last time Phebe went outside was to pick a flower for my mother's birthday. In March. I refused to leave her cooped up in her room when I was able to run around as I wished.

"Well then, how about..."

"Roast beef!" The mere sound made my stomach growl but I disguised it with a cough. Thankfully my sister didn't hear it at all. The last wonderful meal I had was at Hogwarts and Merlin knows I stuffed my face that last breakfast. Mother wanted to make my first meal home and, sadly, she burned it. Kemp made dinner and, as kind as the gesture was, it wasn't like the food at Hogwarts. Nothing's like the food at Hogwarts.

"That's dinner food"

"Please" She began to beg, thrusting her lower lip out. We finally reached our house and I held the glass door open for her and we slipped into the cool air. It was a great difference from the horribly warm weather outside.

"Mum won't like that. You'll ruin your appetite"

"No I won't. Please. Please. Please." Phebe fell to her knees (ignoring the blood coated one. I'd have to clean up the stain later) and grabbed onto my hand. No matter my tries to ignore her, the pouting dug way at me and I caved. My mother would be disappointed when she found out. If she found out.

"Sure. Kemp" The house elf appeared in a small cloud of smoke. His face was elongated from years of frowning (Mother was right when she said a person's face could get stuck that way) and his dark gray eyes were tired. Kemp's features were pointed, except his nose which bulged at the end. He'd been in our family since before I was born and we didn't intend on letting him go. He wouldn't leave either. Trust me, I tried once or twice when I was younger.

"Yes, mistress?" His words were dragged out in the way a wizened old man would. It reminded me of my grandfather; the only difference was the Kemp was much nicer...well not much nicer. Just bearable.

"Put roast beef on for my sister, will you?" I whispered. He leaned in and asked that I repeat my request.

"Yes mistress"

"Thank you, Kemp. Now, that knee of yours" Kemp was gone with a flash.

"Can't catch me! Can't catch me!" For the second time that day, Phebe took off. I followed her up the stairs quickly but soon slowed when the weight of tiredness fell on me. I clung to the banister as Phebe gave a little victory dance.

"Get back here!"

"No running in the house, you two. We have guests coming over for dinner" The woman, our mother, rounded one of the many halls to meet both Phebe and I. A mass of curly brown hair hung to her chin. She had high cheek bones with full lips; the first of which she gave to me.

"Who's coming for dinner?" Phebe asked, forgetting about her victory over me. I only hoped mother wouldn't see the cut. We'd be in deep dragon dung if she did.

"Your uncle and some friends of your father's" She told her with her hand out stretched. Phebe walked to her and let her smooth out the thin curls that were horribly pulled back into a braid. Her hair grew in slowly and very finely because she was...ill. Something that haunted me whenever I looked at her face.

"Daddy has friends?" It was an innocent question but a wonderful one none the less. Never had my father talked about having friends at work; I sometimes forgot that he worked with people other than the papers and books he talked about constantly. It was a surprise that he wasn't as anti-social as I thought.

"Lots of them, sweet heart. What's that? There on your knee?" The small scrape hadn't passed my mother's inspection. I watched closely as my mother looked closer at the cut. I only hoped she would be more concerned with the scrape itself than with how she got it.

"Nothing" Phebe's tiny hands couldn't hide the cut from our mother who turned a stern face to her youngest child. I grimaced and looked to the pattern on the wall; who knew wall paper could be so fascinating.

"Phebe Carolyn Greensby what did I tell you about-"

She cut mother off quickly to steer clear of trouble. "It's a scratch, mummy. Nothing too big" My mother looked up to me for further explanation.

"I was going to clean it up. No need to worry" I mumbled. She took my answer and went back to Phebe's knee.

Her eyes went everywhere on Phebe's leg; she took her wand from a pocket on her dress then waved it over Phebe's scrape. It sealed itself up and Phebe giggled, probably from the tingle. "There we go sweetheart," She stored the wand back to the pocket with a smile. "It's all better now. Go get cleaned up and I'll have Kemp-"

"Already done." She thanked me then shooed Phebe off to her room.

Mother began to sniff the air; I cursed under my breath. How could I have forgotten that mother had the nose of a hippogriff? "That smell...you've been in the lake, haven't you?" I nodded and held my hands behind my back. "I told you not to go into that lake, young lady"

"It was only to catch a frog. Phebe wanted to see one"

"If she wanted you to...to jump of the Astronomy tower, would you?" I shook my head and she sighed. "Stay out of the lake, young lady. Now go wash up" I left and went straight for my room. On the way, I passed Phebe's room and found her in the middle of her floor coloring. Her room was large with light colors like purple, pink, and yellow, scattered around on the walls. Pictures of her as a baby, family, and animals littered the walls. Her stuffed animals were piled up on her neatly made bed. Everything, except for a poster of the rock band Weird Sisters, told her young age.

"Mom said to wash up"

"I'm sorry I got you in trouble, Nicole." She said without look up from her picture. I walked over to her side and looked down her at picture. It was of the little episode we had down at the lake. Although she used stick figures, I could tell who was who.

"I wanted to get the frog. It's not your fault"

"Can I have one for my birthday?"

"I'll catch one for you" She stopped coloring and looked up at me with a toothy smile, her picture was long forgotten

"A big fat one!" Phebe shouted. I had to quite her down so mother wouldn't come looking for the source of the ruckus. A large frog hoped into my thoughts and stared back at me with the same eyes as the one from the lake. "With-with three eyes!" Another eye was added to the frog in my mind. It wasn't pleasant.

"Oh..."

"And warts" Warts were added on.

"Well, Phebe-"

"He has to be really slimy too" The frog in my head gave me a wink (with two of its eyes) and hopped away as I shed the thought.

"I don't think mum would like that" I was positive mother would hate the frog. She'd probably conspire to have it given away or made into stew somewhere off in the world. Mother hated frogs.

Phebe lowered her voice and gestured for me to come closer. "It could be a secret"

"If you say so"

"We have a secret!" She shouted then covered her mouth quickly. It was going to be a short lived secret. Kemp appeared at the door with Phebe's plate of roast beef in his thin hands.

"Miss. Phebe, your meal is ready" Phebe ran over to him and took the plate from his hands.

"Thank you, Kemp"

"You're wonderful!" Phebe added on then came back to her picture.

"I only wish to serve, mistress" Kemp was gone with a nod. Phebe multitasked between eating and coloring her picture, sprinkling the juices from her food everywhere.

"When's Kemp's birthday?"

"I'm not sure" I told her while watching the frog in the picture get splattered with roast beef.

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><p>Later that night, my uncle Alistair walked through the front door, followed by my father and other men dressed in dark colored suits. His fiery red hair was held down by hat which he promptly took off once he caught sight of my mother. He kissed her cheek and told her something that made her blush. Phebe chuckled and leaned forward to watch. Uncle Alistair was one of my father's older brothers; he was probably my favorite. With his insane jokes that only he seems to understand, and his always smiling face, he's enough to make one of the worst days the best. "Where're my nieces?"<p>

"Here we are!" Phebe shouted at the top of her lungs. Every head turned to look up at her bright shining face.

Uncle Alistair let out a hearty laugh and gestured with a swipe of his meaty hand for us to come down to him. Phebe bolted down the steps, almost tripping, while I followed behind sizing up the men in suits. Most of them were stone faced and looked like the walking dead; others smiled and laughed along with my sister. "There they are," He swept Phebe up in his arms and swung her around in circle. "Beautiful just like yer mum, you are" He said to Phebe with a kiss to her head. He sat her down and turned to me with a sly grin. "And you. I swear you get bigger every time I see you. Come give yer uncle a hug" I did as I was told and was smothered into his beaten down leather jacket. A salty smell mixed with something foggy and thick surrounded me and I felt like I was going to choke. Uncle Alistair let me go and placed a kiss to my cheek.

"Alistair, you almost killed the girl." My father said coming to his brother's side and placing a hand on his shoulder. Although they were brothers, they looked nothing alike. Where Uncle Alistair had long, thick red hair, my father had dark, almost black hair. His eyes were dark brown and shielded by glasses, also. Then there was the fact that my father had a deep Sicilian tan, whereas my uncle had pale skin. There were times when I thought my uncle was adopted (my father and eldest uncle, Victor, looked so much alike) but I had to remember that my grandparents were siblings and when it came to things of the sort, there was no telling what the outcome of the children would be.

"I'm sorry, Nicole. Didn't mean to startle ya." He apologized with a smile.

My mother brought the attention to the men in suits and guided them all to the sitting room. Phebe and I followed and sat quietly as the men talked around about business. That is, until my mother took steer of the conversation and began on the topic of families. "You said your eldest is getting married?" She asked then took a sip from her glass of wine.

"Yes, she is." One of the men said (I think his name was Mr. Clev). He was balding but had a very thick beard. I could've sworn I saw beads tucked away in the forest of hair. "It wasn't arranged so I don't know much about the family; but she seems happy"

"You let your daughter marry someone you don't know?" The man who asked was completely bare of hair; he didn't even have eyebrows.

"She's yet to marry him but I'm working on the background of the family as we speak. I've got a grunt working on it now"

"I knew you wouldn't let that happen."

"I have to think about the future." The man with the thick beard looked to me and nodded. I only smiled and looked to my father for help. He was no help; he was knee deep in a conversation about a fiasco that was happening in the Auror department. "Nicole, you're about how old?"

My mouth opened and closed, open and closed, yet no words came out. I had never thought about marriage. I'd just gotten out of fourth year; why did I need to? "She's only fourteen, Clev. I'm not letting her even mention the word 'marry' yet" said my mother with a wink to me. "Kemp should be done with dinner. Why don't we all go to the dining room?"

In the dining room, I was snugged in between Uncle Alistair and Phebe who was going on about a dream she had last night. Her arms were waving and she almost knocked over glasses; everyone laughed except my mother. Phebe stopped when she saw the look she was getting. Dinner went by quickly, until someone (probably the man with the beard) brought up the subject of working at the Ministry. "I've heard about that; seems likes a wonderful opportunity for someone who plans to have a future at the Ministry." Everyone who could understand the conversation agreed. "Why my own sons are going to work there. It starts next week, you know?"

"That's wonderful. Nicole, don't you think that's wonderful?" I nodded.

"If you're interested, Nicole, I could put your name into the running for a job. Granted it's a bit late and you'll be a bit fresh to the idea, I could fit you in." As it turned out, one of the men was actually a woman. A very rugged looking woman. My parents jumped onto the idea quickly and began to work through the idea with the woman. She had a sharp nose that dipped down almost to touch her top lip; her cheeks were sallow but her jaw was square. I thought she looked a bit like a caricature of an actual human but dropped the idea when I noticed everyone's eyes were on me.

"Well? Are you interested? You'd have to work extremely hard"

"I'll do it." I said quickly then cursed myself at the afterthought. Working at the Ministry meant I woke up early, came home late, and I had to wear a suit. The worst part was that I was going to have no fun, and I wouldn't get to spend much time with Phebe. I wouldn't be able to go to the beach with friends or find a "summer romance" if that really even existed. My summer was ruined.

That night after I tucked Phebe in and cleaned my room, I didn't know what to do other than clean even more. My father came in after the third time I made my bed and only laughed at my need to arrange everything. "Just like your mother." I ignored him and continued to fix my pillows. "You should get to bed, you've got to work with me tomorrow. Time to wake up early."

"I thought the job started next week."

"It does. For everyone else. You have to catch up and get paper work done. Head to bed, sweetie" I let him kiss my head (even though I wiped it away). "I love you. This job will be good for you." I let him kiss my head again (this time not wiping it off) and climbed under my manicured covers. It was wonderful be home, but it was horrible to know that my summer was virtually already over. At least I got to work with my dad, and I was able to firecall Phebe if I got a break.

_Dear Diary,_

_I'm to work at the Ministry this Summer...it's not something I want but I know it'll pay off. Hopefully. I have to cancel most of my plans with friends now which'll make me look like a flake. Who needs that going into fifth year? They say it's the most important year. I only got to spend a few days with Phebe and now it feels as if she's being ripped away from me._

_I'm not even looking for a job at the Ministry in the future, dammit._

_I have to go. I can hear Kemp walking around and I don't need him tattling on me as if I were 5 years old. Again. I swear my mother tells him to watch me like a hawk. It's not like I'm turning 15 soon or anything._

_With love,_

_~Nicole_


End file.
